We were so excited to pick our first baby carrots from the veggie garden this week! Just like any baby version of any veggie, these cute orange carrots were bursting with carrot flavor and crunch. I wanted to let the natural flavor of the spring veggies for this dish shine, so I decided to blanch the carrots (along with snap peas and Easter egg radishes) for just a couple of minutes so that they retained their overall bite.
The star of this show was not only the lovely spring veggies, but creamy crumbled goat cheese and a unique pesto sauce made with the carrot top greens. I made the pesto with almonds, lemon juice, olive oil, a clove of garlic, Parmesan cheese and the carrot tops. Just another lesson in gardening that nothing should go to waste! The tops of most veggies that you are growing are just as tasty and edible as the veggies underneath.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Spring Vegetables with Goat Cheese Crumbles & Carrot Top Pesto
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar snap peas
- 10-12 baby carrots
- 8-10 radishes
- Crumbled goat cheese
- For the pesto:
- 1 cup chopped carrot tops
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 garlic clove
Directions:
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the veggies for 2 minutes, drain and cool under running cold water.
- To make the pesto, whirl all of its ingredients together in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Drizzle the pesto on the serving plate, top with the blanched veggies and the crumbled goat cheese.
Tagged: almonds, baby carrots, blanched vegetables, carrot top pesto, carrot tops, carrots, Chevre, crumbled goat cheese, Easter egg radishes, goat cheese, lemon juice, pesto, radishes, side dish, snap peas, spring veggies, sugar snap peas, vegetarian
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